Your welcome. I am enjoying your woodworking thread. I did not feel excluded, I figured you needed experienced voices and I do not qualify. I had sent a deposit on bees last spring but got detained (literally) for a while and I can not remember the guys username or phone number to see if we can do it next spring. Totally my fault. Soooo, I am going to get bees from someone this fall for spring delivery. I got myself a shop full of woodworking tools now including a nice Leigh dovetail jig. I've been building and selling garden benches. When I go to the lumber mill this weekend I am going to buy enough wood to build a few hives and just buy the comb frames outright. Anyway, sorry for the hijack and I look forward to the rest of your build.

Based on the huge price difference-- at least in the quotes I've been given-- I'm still leaning toward plexi over laminated. If the plexi gets badly scratched, you can replace it a couple of times and still not spend what you'd spend on laminated.

I admit I haven't done it yet-- just planning my OH project-- so with experience might think differently.

Check a few other shops. I got one quote at $48 a sheet, and another at $30. I would never go with $48, but $30 was doable, considering it was less than 3 plexis. I've gone through two plexis on one OH easily.

Others may vary, but this is how I view it. An observation hive is built for one thing, and one thing only: to observe bees, i.e. to watch them. I can't watch them if they build wax on the glass. I can't watch them if it's scratched up.

>Based on the huge price difference-- at least in the quotes I've been given-- I'm still leaning toward plexi over laminated. If the plexi gets badly scratched, you can replace it a couple of times and still not spend what you'd spend on laminated.